Front Page Sunday 4-29

Here's the Rundown for Front Page Sunday: Hear the whole program on the listen click.

(1.) DR. DUNN –- Tuition at Murray State will increase by four percent for the next academic year. The increase amounts to around $130 per semester. The MSU board of Regents voted against the administration’s three percent recommendation. The board consensus was the revenue from the additional percentage point would lessen the impact on the university’s reserves. With the additional tuition revenue, MSU will still need to fill an estimated $2.4 million dollar gap with reserves. The Kentucky Council on Post-Secondary Education capped tuition increases for schools like MSU at 5%. Typically MSU’s board has voted to increase tuition at the maximum amount capped by the CPE. Dr. Dunn and I spoke prior to Friday’s meeting and discussed his three percent recommendation. We’ll now begin our monthly chat with Dr. Dunn explaining the reasoning for going in below the CPE cap.

(2.) SHAKESPEARE IN THE SCHOOLS PARTNERSHIP -- As National Poetry Month closes we’re bringing you a glimpse into Murray Middle School classroom activities with the Shakespeare in the Schools Partnership Initiative. It coordinates with the annual Shakespeare Festival at Murray. Murray State faculty member Dr. Barbara Cobb brought the Bard’s sonnets to Murray Middle and is here to share a sample of student responses.

Thanks to Dr. Barbara Cobb and Murray Middle School Fourth Graders Cooper, McKenna, and Garrett for reminding us of the sonnets in this sampling from a project of the Shakespeare in the Schools Partnership Initiative, which coordinates with the Murray Shakespeare Festival.

(3.) CIVIL WAR QUILT -- The American Quilters Society’s annual show in Paducah has just wrapped up, and quilters who attended saw nearly every fabric, design and stitch associated with the art of quilting. Yet, as the 150th anniversary of the Civil War continues, Casey Northcutt investigates a time when fabric was scarce and the quilts were relief supplies sent to soldiers. Of those quilts women did manage to piece together, only a portion remains today, serving as a testament to the hardships of the time.

(4.) JOHN COSKI 2-WAY -- Earlier this month, the Sons of Confederate Veterans announced plans for a park to be built on private land just off of Exit 16 on I-24 in McCracken County. It's intended as a memorial to the area's Confederate soldiers. And at the center of the park, and an emerging controversy, is a flagpole, upon which will fly the red field, blue cross, and thirteen white stars of the Confederate battle flag. The flag has been a lightning rod for controversy for years; the SCV insists it’s a symbol of heritage while opponents see it as an emblem of racism symbol. For some perspective, we spoke with John Coski, a vexillologist and historian at The Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia. He’s also the author of The Confederate Battle Flag: America's Embattled Emblem, which details the flag’s history and how it came to represent different things to different people.

John Coski is the author of The Confederate Battle Flag: America’s Embattled Emblem. He’s also a historian at The Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia.

Related Content

We’ll hear about contention on another one of our region’s rivers, the long-overdue Olmstead Dam Project on the Ohio. Then we’ll sit down with a world-class runner who was in Murray this weekend, to talk about the sport’s finer points. Then, a look back at the past Paducah Symphony Orchestra season with their new executive director and their artistic director.